Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes On Top on Friday in Hungary

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in both FP1 and FP2 (Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd)

The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team continued where they left off in Germany last week by posting the fastest times in both Friday free practice sessions of the weekend in Hungary.

The two drivers were the only ones to dip underneath 1m26s at the Hungaroring in the opening session on Friday morning, and it was Briton Lewis Hamilton who was the fastest of the two with a best lap time of 1:25.814s, beating his German team-mate Nico Rosberg by 0.183s.

Ferrari were the closest to the Mercedes duo, with Kimi Raikkonen six tenths of a second behind the pace in third, with Fernando Alonso a second down in fourth.

Reigning World Drivers’ Champion Sebastian Vettel was fifth fastest for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, but the German was 1.406s behind the pace of the lead Mercedes. Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen was the best placed of the McLaren-Mercedes runners in sixth, three places and 0.447s ahead of team-mate Jenson Button.

Jean-Eric Vergne impressed for Toro Rosso by placing seventh, ahead of his 2013 team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull. Felipe Massa was down in tenth for Williams.

There was a problem for Max Chilton in the Marussia early in the session, when oil leaked onto the hot exhaust and set alight, which necessitated in a change of gearbox. He was able to get out for a few laps before the end of the session, and beat team-mate Jules Bianchi.

In the second practice session in the afternoon, the times tumbled, with lap times entering the 1:24s for the first time. Hamilton once again led the way with a lap time of 1:24.482s, 0.238s clear of Rosberg. Hamilton was heard on the radio complaining about his brakes during the session, but was still comfortably able to head the field.

Vettel was third fastest for Red Bull, but was six tenths of a second adrift, while nearly a second back in fourth was Alonso. Magnussen was fifth for McLaren ahead of Raikkonen and Ricciardo.

Finn Valtteri Bottas, on the back of three consecutive podium finishes, was eighth quickest for Williams, ahead of Button and Massa, who was one of a number of drivers to suffer a spin during the session. Pastor Maldonado of Lotus and Kamui Kobayashi of Caterham also found themselves spinning.